Leading peers can be an incredibly difficult thing to do. Involving others, ceding authority and appealing to professionalism are solid techniques for getting the results you need without harming friendships in the process, says Mike Figliuolo, managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”
When results of a recent SmartBrief on Leadership SmartPulse survey (smartblogs.com/leadership), were released, Figliuolo asked his daughter Danielle, a fifth-year coxswain on the Ohio State University rowing team, about the challenge of leading peers and what she has learned from doing so.
Danielle on the most challenging aspect of leading peers: Finding the balance between being a coach of my peers but not overstepping any boundaries, picking on people and being seen as being bossy are big challenges.
Mike adds: It’s a fine line when you lead peers. Know when you’re about to cross that line into being bossy and instead seek to involve your boss or another influential stakeholder to provide the required coaching, feedback and guidance. Once you’re branded as “bossy” it’s hard to get over that.
Danielle on bringing a team back after failure: I let everyone have their “moment” to come down after the failure. Once we’ve all regained our composure and have our focus back, I get them to look forward to what we can improve. Then I pick one or two things that we need to improve upon and get everyone to focus on improving those items together as a team.
Mike adds: Breathe. Acting hastily during a stressful moment usually yields regrettable results. Once everyone on your team has settled down after a crisis, focus on fixing one or two things. Help them feel success and momentum again rather than trying to fix everything at once and making them feel like failures again when they aren’t able to succeed at all of those things immediately.
